information

Noun

information (usually uncountable, plural informations)

1. (usually) Something that provides a definitive characterization or description of the nature and attributes of a specified entity.
   • And now we come to the third keystone, information.⁸ Information may be thought of as a reduction in entropy—as the ingredient that distinguishes an orderly, structured system from the vast set of random, useless ones.⁹ Imagine pages of random characters tapped out by a monkey at a typewriter, or a...2018, Steven Pinker, “Chapter 2: Entro, Evo, Info”, in Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress, Penguin, →ISBN
2. (usually) Things that are or can be known about a given topic; communicable knowledge of something.
   • I need some more information about this issue.
   • And ſo much yet did this contagion breake foorth to the harme of manie Inhabitants of his Towne, who affected the Vicont, that they which were encountred by the kinges troupes, (information being geuen of their demeanor) they were iudged to be of good prize, and voluntarely paid ranſom.1592, Henry IV of France, A Discourse of the Great Overthrow, page 2
3. (usually) The act of informing or imparting knowledge; notification.
   • For your information, I did this because I wanted to.
   • At this time a great uneasiness became manifest among the Castilians, and it was rumored that Magallanes was going to deliver them over to the Portuguese; and they resolved to mutiny and seize the ships. Magallanes upon obtaining information of this was sorely grieved. He summoned the guilty ones...1903–1909, “Extracto de una carta (Extract of a letter from the Indies)”, in Emma Helen Blair, James Alexander Robertson, editors, The Philippine Islands, 1493–1898, volume 1, pages 297-299
4. (countable, usually) A statement of criminal activity brought before a judge or magistrate; in the UK, used to inform a magistrate of an offence and request a warrant; in the US, an accusation brought before a judge without a grand jury indictment.
   • That friend, […] added, with a smile, that he had more than once amused himself with the thought of a verbarian Attorney-General, authorized to bring informations ex officio against the writer or editor of any work in extensive circulation, who, after due notice issued, should persevere in misusing...1830, S[amuel] T[aylor] Coleridge, “Concerning the Right Idea of the Constitution”, in On the Constitution of the Church and State, according to the Idea of Each: […], London: Hurst, Chance, and Co....
   • 'We have another deposition, doctor, to take; Mr. Irons, here, is prepared to swear informations of very singular importance.'1863, J[oseph] Sheridan Le Fanu, The House by the Church-yard. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Tinsley, Brothers, […], →OCLC
5. (obsolete, usually) The act of informing against someone, passing on incriminating knowledge; accusation.
6. (archaic, usually) The systematic imparting of knowledge; education, training.
7. (archaic, usually) The creation of form; the imparting of a given quality or characteristic; forming, animation.
8. (formal, usually) The meaning that a human assigns to data by means of the known conventions used in its representation.
9. (usually) Divine inspiration.
   • But there was no information, and so we continued
     And arrived at evening, not a moment too soon1927 August, T[homas] S[tearns] Eliot, “[Ariel Poems.] Journey of the Magi.”, in Collected Poems 1909–1935, London: Faber & Faber […], published September 1954, →OCLC, page 108
10. (usually) A service provided by telephone which provides listed telephone numbers of a subscriber.
11. (usually) Any unambiguous abstract data, the smallest possible unit being the bit.
12. (usually, data management) The output resulting from the systematic collection, manipulation and organization of raw data into a structured, interpretable format.
13. (usually) Any ordered sequence of symbols (or signals) (that could contain a message).